Letter: City needs to cut back on expenses

Earlier this month, I attended a City Council meeting where the public was regaled with government at the local level telling we the people that we need to pay our fair share. I submit that the majority of us (barely) are paying our share and the share of those who do not pay. Yet, government asks us to pay more in fees (taxes) to backfill their overspending at every level.

Equating private business to government is apples and oranges. We already pay government with our taxes, so they are already paid to do their jobs and provide the services for which we pay them. I expect to have to pay for private services. As for elected officials at the local level, they choose to run for office and understand that the hours are long and the pay is but a stipend. However, city officials get health care as well as retirement, unless they forgo those benefits. How much is that costing the taxpayers?

We were told the city of Oroville is in a hole. Well, the federal government and state of California, as well as the Feather River Recreation and Parks District, are all in holes too, but who put them there? Certainly not the nonprofits, businesses or the taxpayers. They dug themselves into the holes that they are in. It is time for them to extricate themselves from their own mess and quit asking businesses, taxpayers and nonprofits to bail them out. Tighten your belts, not ours.